Wednesday, July 18, 2012

What Marriages Does the Church Consider Valid?: On the Road with a Canonist

This past weekend, my husband, three children, my
mother-in-law and me were traveling home after a weekend away where we had
attended a friend’s wedding.My saintly
petite mother-in-law had willing folded herself into the back of the car with
the children between boxes, garment bags, and luggage, happily chatting,
brokering peace, and watching movies with them, which freed my husband and I to
enjoy a five-hour conversation in the front seat.

With the length of Lake Michigan’s coast ahead of us and
plenty of time to reflect on the weekend, my thoughts naturally turned to the
Church and weddings.This happens to be
an area of expertise for my canonist husband, so I hoped that he wouldn’t mind
if I asked him some canonical questions about the Church’s view of different
types of marriages.He was more than
happy to oblige—in fact, I think I might have caught a twinkle of excitement in
his eye when I mentioned the code—so I quickly took out my laptop to record his
answer on the following question:What
types of marriages does the Church view as valid?Because, like my husband always tells me,
just like you can’t baptize with Pepsi, you need certain aspects of the
ceremony to be present for the sacrament to take place, depending on who’s
getting married.My husband, with great
enthusiasm, laid out the following marriage scenarios and the Church’s take on
them.

-Two Catholics with
canonical form

To satisfy canonical form, a priest or deacon must ask for
and receive the marrying parties’ consent in the name of the Church in the
presence of at least two witnesses.In
most cases, this will be done in a church or oratory, however it’s not required
to satisfy canonical form. For example,
John and Suzie, both baptized Catholics, are married during a wedding
Mass.The Church considers this marriage
to be valid and sacramental, due to the baptisms of both spouses.

A note on canonical form: when two Catholics marry,
canonical form is required, though in very rare cases the Holy See can dispense
the parties from the requirement of form.

-One Catholic
marrying one baptized non-Catholic Christian with canonical form

Only Catholics are bound by canonical form.Therefore, even if only one marrying party is
Catholic, canonical form is still required.(However, in this situation it would be possible to receive a
dispensation from canonical form from the local ordinary.)Also, in this instance, the Catholic party
must make the additional promise to do all in his or her power to baptise and
raise the children Catholic, and the non-Catholic party must informed of this
promise, which is usually done during the pre-nuptial investigation by the
priest. An example of this would be if Catholic
Mary married Protestant Calvin in the Catholic church.This would be a valid—and therefore
sacramental, due to the parties’ baptisms—marriage.

-One Catholic and one
non-baptized person with canonical form

The Church would recognize as valid this type of marriage
only if the Catholic party had received a dispensation for disparity of worship
from the local ordinary (the bishop of that diocese, vicar general, or episcopal
vicar) and had made the promise to raise the children Catholic.This would not be a sacramental marriage,
however, because both parties are not baptized. An example of this would be if Catholic
Elizabeth received a dispensation to marry unbaptized Stan in the Catholic
church.Also, as in the above situation,
it would be possible to receive a dispensation from canonical form from the
local ordinary.

-Two Protestants
before their minister or justice of the peace

The Church would recognize this marriage as valid because as
they are not Catholic, the marrying parties are not bound by canonical form.Any time there are two baptized people who
have a valid marriage, it is ipso facto a sacrament.An example of this would be if baptized
Methodist Jane married baptized but now agnostic Zack before the justice of the
peace.This would be both valid and
sacramental, due to the baptisms of the marrying parties.

-One Protestant and
one unbaptized person before a minister or justice of the peace

The Church would consider this to be a valid marriage but
not a sacrament because both parties are not baptized.An example: Baptized Lutheran Luke married
unbaptized Holly on the beach before a minister.

-Two unbaptized
people before a minister or justice of the peace

This again would be considered a valid marriage but not a
sacrament.An example of this type of
marriage would be if two Muslims were married in a traditional Muslim wedding
ceremony.

My husband would like to note that currently if you were
baptized (or received into the Catholic Church) you are bound by canonical
form, even if you have since fallen away from the practice of the faith.Between 1983 and April 2009, one could make
an act of formal defection from the Catholic Church, but it could only be done
in writing and necessarily was an act of heresy, apostasy, or schism.After defecting, a Catholic was no longer
bound to canonical form.This type of
formal defection, though, was rare and is no longer possible.Benedict XVI changed this to reflect the
principle of semel Catholicus, semper
Catholicus. Therefore, currently, even if a baptized Catholic were to fall
away from the faith, he would still be bound by canon law and would need to
marry within the Church for his marriage to be valid.